Check-row potato-planter.



0. L. OLSON.

CHECK ROW POTATO PLANTER.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 3. 1916.

1,203,393. Patented 001. 31,1916.

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O. L. OLSON.

CHECK ROW POTATO PLANTER.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 3, I916.

1 203,393. Patented 00f. 31, 1916.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

OSCAR L. OLSON, OF ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA.

CHECK-ROV- POTATO-PLANTEBQ 7 Application'filed July 3, 1918.

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, OSCAR L. OLSON, a citizen of the'United States, residing at St. Paul, in the county ofRamsey and State of Minnesota, have invented a new and useful Check-Row Potato-Planter, of which they following is a: specification.

This invention relates to wheel supported machines for planting potatoes, and the main object-istoprovide a check rower potato-planter which willplant potatoes at de sired distances apart in spaced rows withoutmissing-' anyhill. and without planting moreethan one potato in each hill. I V

In the accompanyingdrawings,Figure 1 is a side: elevation ofthe improved potato planter with one of its ground wheels removed and theportion of the frame bounded by the line a b-0Ze in Fig. 2 broken away; owing to limited space of thedrawing some: parts are imperfectly shown but will befound'more clearly shown in other views. Fig. 2" isga top or plan view of Fig; 1 with the hopper-intersected on the line a"(?/ in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 isfa 'partly sectional view of an enlarged portion of'Fig. 1 about as on the line 9-9 in Fig.4. Said Fig. 4 is a crosszsection ofthe machineabout as on the line in: Fig. 3.. Fig. 5 is an enlarged partly sectional view showing more clearly the clutchmechanism" and its relation to the portion of Fig 5 above it with the gear 47 added. Fig: 7 is a detail face view of one of the potato. carrying arms and the hub and shaft carrying it.- 1

Referring: to the drawing by reference numerals, 1" designates the; body or main frame of'the machine, which is supported by a'pairof side wheels@ and provided with a draft pole 3 to which horses or other motive power maybe attached. Pivoted with its forward end at 4 is a substantially central longitudinal bar 5, whose rear portion is connected by link 6to a rocker arm 7 of a short rock-shaft 8; which is'mounted on the frame and providedwith a hand lever 9 near the operators seat 10. From said. bar 5 de- -pendsapair of furrow opening disks 11",

and rearward thereof a V-shaped furrow opener 12 (shown in Fig. 1) and still farther back a pair of'f-urrow closing disks 13. Said furrow opening and; closing devices ,are lowered?intatheigreund bymeviag thahand Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 31. 1916.

Serial No. 107,222.

lever 9 into the notch 14 of a fiked sector 15, and'by bringing the lever into the rear notch 16 of the sector the furrow working devices are'raised high enough above the ground to 1piei'iiait the machine to be driven idle over the Suspended from the main frame and extending also partly above the same, is a potato dropping tube 17, having its lower end arranged in rear of the'furrow opener1 2 and provided with apivoted valve '18 oper- I ated by a rod 18 and a rocker arm 19,v (see Fig. 5) the'latter being fixed on: a rock shaft 20 which is journaled across'the' frame and provided with two forks 21, one near each side of the machine, saidforks beingadapted for operation by'a checkline 22 having obstructions 23 engaging the fork at one side of themachine to tilt it when the machine isdriven in one direction over a potato field;

and to-operate the other fork when the machine is driven in the reverse direction. The

check line is supported on rollers 24 inposts, 25, where it is kept by a cover '(not shown)- to-nonmal position, thereby closing. the valve 18 after a'potat'ohas been deposited in the furrow. p

The potato carrying mechanism consists of a hopper or magazine 27 having a segmental downward extension 28, into which the potatoes 29 are gradually moved by their own weight. The bottom of, said eX- tcnsion presents two'parallelcurved segmental grooves 30v (see. Fig. 4) with, an intermediate ridge 31. The rear: end wall; 32 of said extension is formed with twodeep notches-or slits 32 inward through which move four radial arms 33,.which are fiXed on a shaft 34 rotated inbearings 35. The arms33 are arranged in pairs operating" one pair in each notch 32 and swinging into1-7si1nilar'notches 36 in the dropping tube 17 each pairhas its two members extendedto impale and carry one potato ata' time from the hopper extension into the drop pingtube; When the potato is in axposition to be dropped into the tube 17 it is pushed off from the prong 37 by a stripper lever 38,.which ispivoted to a. 1ug89'of the arm and me its-inner and eurved- 40 5a ar ranged that it passes into contact with a stud 41 fixed in a flat bracket 42, secured on.

stripping lever has stripped the potato from' the prong it passes by the stud 41 and is free to be depressed against the arm by the next potato into which the prong is forced.

The arms 33 may be fixed in a hub like 38 in Fig. 7, and may then be termed a spider fixed on a spider shaft 34. Said shaft is provided with a disk-like clutch member 44, (best shown in Figs. 5, 6 and 4) and has one end formed with a cavity in which is journaled the end 45 of an abutting short shaft 46, on which is fixed a gear 47, driven by a gear 48, which is fixed on a countershaft 49 having a sprocket 50 driven by a chain 51 and a sprocket 52, the latter being fixed either to one of the ground wheels 2 or to the axle 2 thereof if the latter is made rotatable in its bearings.

On the short shaft 46 is fixed a ratchet wheel 53 (best shown in Fig. 5) which acts as a second clutch-member by engaging a dog 54 pivoted at 55 to the clutch member 44. Said dog is provided with a tail 56, having a notch 57 in which engages a tooth 58 of a ring 59, which has a slight rotary movement about its center, it having slots 60 loosely engaged by headed studs 61 secured in the member 44. Said ring is provided with four radial fingers 62. A spring 63 serves to hold the ring normally in position shown so that the dog 54 engages the ratchet wheel.

Journaled in bearings 65 is a short rock shaft 66 having three radial arms 67, 68, 69. The arm 68 receives motion from the end of a push piece 70 which is pivoted at 71 to a bar 72 sliding in bearings 73 and having a spring 74 raising the push piece 70 into engagement with and allowing it to be retracted below the arm 68. Said slide 72 is connected by a link 75 to a rocker arm 76 on the fork shaft 20, so that each time the forks'2l are swung forward by the spring 26 the push piece 70 causes the arm 67 to swing beyond the ends of the fingers 62, whereupon the spring 63 rotates the ring 59, and as the dog is thereby engaged in the ratchet wheel, the latter, which is constantly rotated as long as the machine is in motion, rotates the clutch member 44 and thereby the spider 38 until one potato has been car ried into the dropping tube 17, when the spider shaft is uncoupled by the following mechanism: Mounted in posts 77 is a light rock shaft 78 having a depending wing 79 with two slots 80 in it (see Fig. 4) and at one end of the shaft is a rocker arm 81 split portion against the shaft with any de-' sired tension.

The operation of the above last described mechanism is as follows: Supposing the potatoes are to be planted three feet apart, then while the machine is driven forward three feet the spider makes about one revolution and would thus bring four potatoes into the dropping tube, but as it is desired to have only one potato in the tube when its valve is opened, only one of the spider arms is allowed to carry a potatointo the tube dur-f ing the three feet run of the machine, the other three spiders are only for reserve in case one or more arms should miss the potato in the hopper extension, for any arm missing the potatoes will pass idle through the apron 79, but the first arm bringing a potato can not pass through the apron without swinging it by the potato and thus operate the rod 82 and cause the arm 67 to uni couple the spider shaft, leaving the ratchet wheel 53 to run idle until the arm 67 is disengaged again from finger 62 by the means already described, so that the spring 68 can act on the ring 59 and cause dog 54 to en gage the ratchet wheel again. 1

What I claim is 1. In a potato planter, the combination.

with a pair of ground wheels, of a frame carried thereby and having a draft pole, furrow opening means and furrow closing means carried by the same, means for adjusting said furrow working devices into and upward above the ground a potato dropping tube carried by the frame and having in its lower end a valve, a potato magazine having an-upwardly open extension with slits in the wall'nearest the dropping tube, a spider mounted to rotate near said slits and having arms swinging through the slits and provided each with asharp prong by which to engage a potato and carry it into the dropping tube, means for automatically disengaging each potato from the arm into the tube, operative connection between said spider and one or both of the ground wheels, to rotate the spider normally at a superfluous speed, a coupling device inserted in .the

operative connection, a trigger controlling the coupling mechanism and arranged to be" operated by each potato passing to the dropping tube, so as to prevent more than'one potato from being dropped at one time by the tube, a check rower mechanism arranged to operate the valve, a spring restoring the check rower mechanism to normal position 7 d after each potato is dropped, operative connection between said spring and the valve and the trigger to restore them automatically to normal position after each potato is dropped into the furrow.

2. Ina potato planter, a dropping tube designed to drop one potato at a time into the ground, a valve controlling the lower end of said tube, means for opening the valve automatically at certain predetermined spaced points in the travel of the planter, a wheel carrying potatoes one by one from a supply toward the tube faster than the tube is supposed to drop them, means for driving said wheel, and automatic means for uncoupling it by each potato actually carried into the tube, and automatic means for coupling the Wheel again to its driving means as soon as the dropping tube is emptied.

Intestimony whereof I aflix my signature.

OSCAR L. OLSON.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

